Let’s Play KiCad 7: Installing Plugins (Part 1)

By
BMayes
-

Previously, Part 0 showed what makes KiCad 7 such a versatile electronic design automation (EDA) tool.  Today, Part 1 will introduce the plugin manager–which can extend KiCad’s feature set in just a few minutes.

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Recap

As a reminder, this series is organized as follows…

  • Even-numbered chapters feature need-to-know information
  • Odd-numbered chapters feature nice-to-know information

That’s to say, today’s procedure is optional.

Requirements

Once it is installed KiCad 7 does not require an internet connection to use.  However, you will need your internet connection back in order to follow along.

Steps to Install a Dark Theme

  • Step 1: Open KiCad 7
  • Step 2: At the main menu, look for “Plugin and Content Manager”                   
  • Step 3: In the Plugin and Content Manager window…click the “Color themes” tab.                        
  • Step 4: Select the desired theme (I will select the theme titled: Solarized Dark)
  • Step 5: Click “Install”                              
  • Step 6: Click “Apply…”

If there are no errors, and your theme no shows an uninstall button instead of install, then you’re probably done.                               

Enforcing an Installed Theme

At this point, the theme is installed, but it is not yet being enforced.  To start enforcing the installed theme, first close the plugin manager.  Then…

  • Step 1: In KiCad 7’s main menu, navigate to preferences –> preferences –> schematic editor –> Colors           
  • Step 2: Set the theme to the desired theme (example: Solarized Dark)
  • Step 3: (Optionally) Repeat the same for the Symbol editor, Footprint editor, and PCB Editor categories
Figure 1: (Left) Default color scheme. (Right) Solarized Dark color scheme.

Before You Print

It is wise to preview every KiCad print job before printing.  If you misconfigure KiCad, it will print on a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) basis and therefore print the dark background.  This will waste ink.

In my case, KiCad 7 was configured to prevent this problem.  But if you wish to print something later, consider enforcing the following print settings under File -> Print…

  • Set Print background color = not checked (☐)
  • Set Use a different color theme for printing = checked (☑)
  • Set the theme to Kicad Classic or Default

Future Work

The next part of this series will create a schematic, a circuit board, and a 3D model in just a few minutes using one of KiCad’s built-in templates.

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